The Letter
by Angel Taisha
Summary: COMPLETE: Someone had once told Umi that writing a letter was like sending a message to the heart of the receiver...


**A/N: This is a song fic, but the lyrics of the song are made up in the form of a letter that Umi is writing to Clef, telling him of the feelings she didn't get to when they left Cephiro for the second time. The OVA Clef is used here because I just feel he should have been built that way from the start, you know? As usual its AU, they are probably OOC, but then again I've never been known to write anyone IC so...Either way I hope you enjoy! The song I used is called 'Morning Song for Sally' written by Jerry Jeff Walker, but it is Nanci Griffith's version I am using here if you ever seek the song out. **

Someone had once told Umi that writing a letter was like sending a message to the heart of the receiver. She had been so depressed since she and her two friends were abruptly flung out of Cephiro after they had battled so hard to save it a second time; the words she wanted to say to Master Mage Clef would be forever entombed in her heart with no way of them ever getting to him and it filled her with regret.

She seated herself at the helm of her huge, mahogany desk and sighed. "If it's true...I guess I could give it a try." Umi cast her eyes down sadly onto the empty page. "I'll do anything just for even a chance to tell him how much he meant to me."

The kitty cat cup that was placed perfectly on the top of her desk contained many writing implements, and Umi gazed at each one, wondering which one would choose to be more effective for her task like it actually mattered. She resolved to pick one that was a shade of blue as deep as the Mage's eyes and put pen to paper, letting the words in her heart pour out onto the white, clean surface.

_As the morning light stretched in across my bed, I thought of you.  
Remembering your laughing eyes and all we said...I love you too._

Umi paused, the emerging emotions that welled up inside her as she released the words she had kept secret for so long overwhelmed her at first, making her hand tremble. Memories spent with Clef while she was in Cephiro flashed across her eyes like silent movies, making her smile. Umi felt temporarily strengthened by the visions, and her hand started moving again, as if of its own accord.

_As all my thoughts of you pass 'fore my face a thousand times...  
The way they race my heart... I cannot say it all in lines_.

At this point the tears had begun to brim along the lower borders of her eyes; the thought of never seeing Clef ever again had brought forth a sudden fear that frightened her to the deepest depths of her soul. Umi blinked and the dam of tears burst, spilling out onto her cheeks and cascading off of the edge of her chin, landing onto the paper as she continued to put down the words she now couldn't keep from pouring out of her heart. _  
_  
_How the short time together lasts so long, makes me strong  
As two weeks came and went then you and I were gone, living on..._  
_For it seems our love was destined to be caught in other nets...  
The love we held so brief I'd chance again without regret._

By the time Umi had finished writing down the last few words, the realization that one day she would forget him forever became crystal clear, but she was determined to trudge on, letting him know in that very moment that she didn't forget him...not yet.

_For my waking thoughts of you are but extensions of a dream,  
And without you here beside me, I'll never know all that they mean._

Umi slammed the pen down onto the desk, refusing to write any more. The magic and reality of the words staring back up at her on the paper were too much for her heart to bear and she fell into the crooks of her arms, sobbing softly onto the written declaration beneath her. The words became intermixed as her regretful tears soaked them together.

She wasn't sure how long she had been like that; time had seemed to stand still for her, but it wasn't long before she felt a hand press onto her shoulder softly. Umi figured it was her mother and resisted lifting her head for fear of the questions she would receive once the woman caught a glimpse of her daughter's tear stained face. Finally, heaving a sigh of defeat, the water knight slowly but reluctantly lifted her head from her arms, and the sight before her made the breath catch in her throat.

"C...Clef?" She exclaimed breathlessly, unable to believe that the tall, handsome Master Mage was now standing above her. Umi's eyes widened, dashing about her surroundings like a bee to a flower as she discovered that she was no longer in the confines of her bedroom in Tokyo, but in fact sitting at the helm of the Mage's desk in his chambers. "But how?"

"I told you that you'd reach me." He said softly, his hand in hers as he raised her up out of the seat. "All you had to do was write." Clef pulled Umi into his arms; his fingers threaded through her long, blue tresses, caressing the back of her neck as he rocked her gently from side to side. "Now we will always be together, as long as that's what you want."

Umi lifted her head off of his chest; her answer obvious as their lips came together for the very first time. The letter she had written flew off of the desk and out into the sea of Cephiro, losing itself in the cold, still waters surrounding the castle.


End file.
